Red Thread of Fate
by Pillowender
Summary: When Anna decided to play match maker in her head she hadn't expected that the four people left inside the cafe would eventually intertwine their fates by themselves. Not to mention get tangled in a mess of ribbons. Call it destiny, pure luck or mere coincidence, but maybe that was just how fate really worked whenever it decides to bring people together. NxM; RxH One-Shot


**A/N:** This is my first published GA Fic ever since the series had ended. I was so depressed that one of my favorite mangas of all time has finally come to a close that I decided to write some stories about our favorite characters. I did write quite a few but none of them had ever been exposed to the public because they were either scrapped, too lame or unfinished. Then last night I remembered the cover photo for chapter 123 where Mikan, Natsume, Ruka and Hotaru were tangled in a red ribbon that obviously represented the oh-so-famous red thread of fate, and indicating that their paths were meant to cross right from the beginning, so viola! A story told in Anna's third POV. Enjoy~

**P.S.** I am fully aware that it's not December but I can't think of any other purpose on why someone would decorate their cafe with red ribbons for no particular reason.

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**Red Thread of Fate  
**

December.

The month where everyone is their most busy.

Groceries and malls were always packed due to people doing some last minute Christmas shopping. Stores and boutiques would decorate their place of business with Christmas balls, hollies and other things that give in to the season and airport flights would be fully booked for those people who likes to spend their holidays outside of the country.

Shop owner Anna Umenomiya had especially decorated her cafe with lots of red, gold and silver. Most of the decorations consisted of ribbons and laces and some people would call it overkill, but she liked it the way it is. Her co-worker on the other hand put her foot down and demanded that she take down at least half of the ribbons she decided to put up. This fairly disappointed her but when Sumire says no, it means _do-as-I-say-or-suffer-consequences_.

So there she was, on the brink of closing time, on top of a ladder, stripping the ceiling of decorations with one hand and a box of ribbons wedged between her arm and torso.

The cafe was barely empty save for the four people sitting at tables that were far from each other. Normally there wouldn't be anyone else left in the cafe at this hour, but there was a snow storm raging outside and there was no way that any of these people would be able to see the road they were driving on. If they left now and persisted even if it was dangerous they would eventually get into an accident. Basically they were there to pass the time while it still wasn't safe to go outside.

Anna briefly paused from her work and analyzed the remaining costumers.

There was the brunette who'd ordered a peach latte and a slice of strawberry shortcake; the purple eyed girl who'd bought a mug of hot chocolate; the raven haired lad who'd asked for pure black coffee and the blonde man who'd gotten a plain coffee with lots of cream.

They all had two things in common– Anna noticed. One, was that they were all busy with something(the brunette was reading a magazine; the purple eyed girl was busy with her laptop, so was the raven-haired lad; and the blonde man was reading a very thick textbook about animal physiology) and two; their backs were all at each other. Funny how they all faced north, south, east and west individually making it impossible for them to see who the other people in the cafe with them were.

Anna chuckled as she went back to pulling at the ribbons.

It would be amusing to see those four get together. She noted that they had good chemistry and if she matched them right, the brunette was perfect for the raven-haired lad while the purple-eyed girl probably matched the blonde boy.

The thought was far-fetched but when you're a hopeless romantic who've read a number of manga, books and watched a lot of series with a plot that was cliché, you tend to play matchmaker up in your head. Even if you yourself know that those matches are far from happening.

"Anna! Stop daydreaming while you're on top of the ladder!" Sumire snapped, breaking the pink-haired lass' trance. She was so startled that she almost slipped. Fortunately she grabbed a ledge just in time, but that didn't stop the ladder from causing a ruckus as it wobbled until it became steady again.

"Sumire! Would you stop scaring me like that while I'm doing something dangerous!? I almost fell!" Anna exclaimed while glaring at her green haired co worker who merely snorted and went back to wiping the counter top.

Scared out of her wits Anna decided to climb down but left the box of ribbons on top of the ladder. She still wasn't done with her task, but maybe a little break wouldn't hurt especially since her heart was still pounding from her almost accident.

She joined Sumire behind the counter and started to rearrange the cakes and pastries on display.

"You know those two guys are seriously hot," Sumire gushed.

Anna looked up and saw that her coworker was barely doing a good job at wiping the counter. She had a goofy expression on her face and had that far away look in her eyes as she ran the rag back and forth through the same spot. Her attention was directed at the raven-haired dude and the blonde boy and Anna can clearly see why they had her friend star struck. The blonde looked like a prince with his long locks and soft features while the raven-haired dude had this bad boy appeal that always made panties drop.

_Typically Sumire,_ she thought as she switched the places of a Blueberry Cheesecake and the Better Than Sex cake(the latter looked better right beside the chocolate mousse).

"Excuse me?" A polite voice uttered.

Anna stood straight and faced the costumer in front of the cash register. It was the brunette.

"Yes?" she asked going over to her with a smile on her face.

"I'd like that black forest to go," she said pointing to said cake on the display case.

"Of course," Anna replied before taking out the last black forest out of the case and prepared it for the costumer.

As she was placing the cake inside the box another costumer had gone up to the register. This time it was Sumire that took the order and judging from the way her voice went up an octave, she guessed it was one of the two men in the cafe.

"Where's the black forest?" He asked. No. Rephrase that– demanded.

An awkward laugh came from her co worker before she went over to Anna.

"Where's the black forest?" She desperately asked, but before Anna could answer her eyes already caught sight of the said pastry inside the box that she was just about to bring to the female costumer.

"Last one," Anna had said to the male(the raven-haired dude) as she gave the order to the brunette.

"Then I'll take this," he so rudely remarked before he snatched the one Anna was handing over to the costumer. She was just about to tell him that he can't do that when the brunette cut her to it.

"Excuse me, that's mine."

She pointed to the cake box he was holding.

He stared at her with crimson red eyes and asked in a dead pan voice, "Have you paid for this yet?"

"I was just about to, until you took it," she replied. It was evident that she was trying to wolf down her temper but from the way her lips twitched Anna had the impression that she was gonna blow up if this dude kept up his snotty attitude.

He looked her up and down as if contemplating whether he wanted to stay there and argue with the girl or just get this whole thing over with. After he turned to Anna it was fairly obvious which thought he decided to do.

"Here, keep the change."

He gave her 10 thousand yen and made a move to leave when the brunette grabbed his arm and yanked him back. Without taking her eyes off him she fished out her wallet and took 20 thousand yen and shoved it in the guy's chest.

"Here's double what you paid. Now give me the damn cake."

Her voice was void of politeness and her eyes were flashing dangerously while the guy looked at her with disinterest. She grabbed the ribbon and tried to pull but the man was persistent and didn't let go.

"Natsume/Mikan?" Two people had said at the same time.

The brunette and the rave-haired haired man both turned at the same moment.

The blonde and the purple-eyed girl were heading towards them.

"Ruka/Hotaru!" The other two responded but the brunette's voice was a little louder and cheerier that the guy holding the other side of the ribbon.

It was then when Anna realized that her thoughts earlier were practically coming to a reality. She watched in awe as the exchange of pleasantries and not-so pleasantries(the brunette and the dude with crimson eyes) occurred in front of her. Even Sumire was equally curious.

"Mikan what are you doing?" the purple eyed girl questioned eyeing the boy with crimson eyes.

The girl called Mikan pouted and pointed her free hand at the crimson-eyed man. "He took my cake Hotaru."

Hotaru (as the purple-eyed girl was called) looked at the said man with a blank face and before she can say anything the blonde spoke up.

"Natsume just give her the cake."

Natsume's red eyes flickered towards him. "She requested for this cake Ruka. I can't let her down," he explained, and even though he didn't specify on who he was talking about they seem to come down to an agreement as Ruka nodded his head as if he understood. Maybe it was for his girlfriend?

That was definitely what Mikan had thought when she said she didn't care if it was for his girlfriend. She was the one who ordered it first and she even implied that he didn't have the spirit of Christmas because he was so rude.

Natsume replied by telling her she was the one with no Christmas spirit because she refused to give the cake and even insulted her by saying that she shouldn't even eat it because she was ugly enough and that eating it would make her hideously fat.

She was so angry she practically ripped his arm off as she pulled on the ribbon. Kami knows what's happening to the cake inside of the box. If ever one of them does get the cake it will be a whole mess from all that grabbing and pulling.

Ruka tried to pacify the situation, but was failing miserably. Hotaru didn't even attempt to do anything and just watched the whole argument manifest into hell in front of her.

Anna realized she should stop the whole thing but she found it so amusing that she can't seem to speak up.

Then it happened.

Mikan tried to tug on the box of cake harder and accidentally tripped on her feet. As she was falling she grabbed Hotaru's sleeve while Ruka caught Natsume's arm to stop him from going down with Mikan. But everything was out of pendulum and the weight Mikan threw from her fall, Hotaru not foreseeing the event, the fact that Natsume still kept a firm grip on the ribbon tying the box of cake and that Ruka managed to slip as well, caused all four of them to topple over.

The box of cake went flying from across the room and a loud crash reverberated through the whole cafe as the four of them knocked down the ladder and threw the box of ribbons on them.

It was only then when Anna managed to move as she scurried over to the four people as they tried to untangle themselves from the variety of red, silver and gold. Sumire even went after her to help them out of the tangled situation they got into.

"Are you guys okay?" Anna asked as she and Sumire cleared out the mess, but she was ignored as the four were too caught up with something else.

"Great. Look what you did you idiot," Natsume scoffed as he tried his best take out the ribbon that got caught in one of his earrings.

"Oh so it's my fault now? Who was being a stubborn donkey and refused to give the cake to the rightful owner?" Mikan retorted as she also tried to pull on the ribbons that got caught in her bracelet and necklace.

"You're both idiots for arguing over a stupid cake," Hotaru implied. She was also attempting to pry off a ribbon from her expensive brooch.

Ruka didn't say anything, but he too had the same problem as the three as he was also busy with the ribbon that snagged on his necklace.

Sumire and Anna cleared out the last of the ribbons, except one.

Call it fate, destiny or just pure coincidence, but the only ribbon left was the longest one out of all the ribbons Anna put up. It was red, thin and snagged to at least one(two for Mikan) accessory from each person. They were too busy trying to take it off that they hadn't noticed they were caught in one ribbon. Mikan was connected to Natsume and Hotaru, while Hotaru was connected to Ruka and Mikan and vice versa(Natsume to Ruka and Mikan; Ruka to Natsume and Hotaru). Even when they did manage to successfully take it out, neither one had noticed that they were busy with the same ribbon.

"You are a devil incarnate," Mikan accused pointing a finger at Natsume. She went over to Anna took out another large bill and gave it to her.

"Sorry for the trouble and for ruining your holidays," she stated as she handed over the money. Before Anna could even protest she was already on her way to the door but stopped by Natsume as she passed him. She narrowed her eyes a fraction before flicking her hair in his direction.

"Merry Christmas," she said although in a not too merry voice.

With that she walked out. Hotaru was following behind her silently her laptop case already tucked in her armpit.

She cast a quick glance on Ruka and Natsume's way before closing the door behind her.

"Bah humbug," Natsume muttered before turning to his friend. "Let's go Ruka. Aoi will be excited to see that you're here. Plus I need someone to help me explain why I wasn't able to get her the black forest cake."

With a curt nod the two men also went out of the cafe leaving only Sumire and Anna, who were still speechless from all that had occurred.

"Did that just happen?" Sumire asked as they watched the black Mustang and silver Ferrari pull out from the parking lot of the cafe. The storm had calmed then. It had probably calmed down when Mikan came over to order that cake. Otherwise she wouldn't have gotten it to go if she wasn't leaving yet.

Anna didn't answer. She simply went over to the ruined cake at the other side of the shop and picked it up.

A small smile graced her lips as the image of those four people tangled in red ribbon flashed in her mind once again. She knew that they'd eventually meet again and that fate will bring them back together. The meeting at the cafe and the fact that the red ribbon managed to tangle them can be considered as pure coincidence, but maybe that was just how fate worked.

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"I'd be lying if I said a sequel wouldn't follow through after this story." -pillowender


End file.
